Trust me, I’m an engineer… (and 87% of the public does)

When it comes to trustworthiness, you would be hard-pressed to beat an engineer, reckons a survey of the British public.

The profession achieves a staggering 87% national average approval rating from those respondents who took part in this year’s Ipsos MORI Veracity Index.

Outside England, engineers score even higher – with a 93% approval among Scots and an enormous 96% in Wales. Within England, London and the South East are the most favourably inclined; with both at 89%.

Even the least trustful areas – the North on 87% and the Midlands, ‘down’ at 81% – rate the profession highly.

What’s even more gratifying is that this is the first time engineers have been referenced on the annual poll, thanks to lobbying from the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

Just three professions – nurses, doctors and teachers, all of them longstanding inclusions on the list – score more highly, said an IET spokesperson.

[This] will help us further shift outdated perceptions of engineering and encourage the next generation into an inspiring and rewarding career

Mamta Singhal, award winner and awards judge, IET

And crucially for future recruitment, points out Mamta Singhal – commercialisation manager at Coca-Cola European Partners, past winner of the IET’s Women Engineering Society prize and a regular judge for its various awards – trust for engineers among graduates has hit 91%.

“Nearly nine in 10 people trust engineers – this demonstrates the huge level of professionalism and importance of engineers in the UK to support our infrastructure and continue to advance the world around us," commented Singhal.

“Having engineers at the top of the index amongst the likes of doctors and teachers will hopefully help us further shift outdated perceptions of engineering and encourage the next generation into an inspiring and rewarding career.”

Down at the bottom of the table languish the usual suspects: estate agents (30%), journalists (26%) and government ministers (22%).

Given the Cabinet’s Brexit challenges, it may be some consolation for the latter group to learn that the category of politicians as a whole ranks even lower than they do, at 19%. And lowest of all are advertising executives on just 16%.